Some embodiments generally relate to the guiding of a high-pressure cleaning device, in view of cleaning the inside of heat exchanger tubes.
The high-pressure cleaning of the tubes of a heat exchanger is a periodic operation that it typically carried out as part of the maintenance of this type of installation. Currently, this is a mainly manual or semi-manual operation, an operator remotely operates, using a remote control, one or several rods assembled on a mobile gantry (called a bundle cleaner).
Yet, the high-pressure cleaning of the tubes of a heat exchanger is, according to operators who usually carry out this task, a task that is not only tiring (mainly because of the standing position of the operator and the impact of external conditions), but also tedious (repetitiveness, over a large number of tubes) and potentially harmful regarding the safety of the operator.
Indeed, to be able to visualize the result of the actions of positioning the bundle cleaner that they carry out, the operator positions themselves very close to the exchanger (in particular, at a distance of between 1 m and 5 m away), which exposes them to potentially contaminated water mist coming from the exchangers (contaminated with hydrocarbons).
Finally, operators handling via a rod (or triangle) or more generally, a bundle cleaner (not connected to the exchanger to be cleaned), with very high-pressure water jets, it can occur that the exchanger, during cleaning, moves because of the pressure of the jets, in particular, when a tube is clogged, even that the exchanger or bundle cleaner suddenly recoils (by a piston effect) or that the rod breaks. This adds an additional risk for the safety of the operator.
Moreover, it is probable that the tiredness connected to this type of task can also lead to potential errors and a progressive slowing-down of the task.
Moreover, the positioning of the cleaning devices is, currently, today carried out with the naked eye, which is only possible in times of cleaning, during which the operator remains capable of seeing the result of their actions of positioning the bundle cleaner, in other words, by positioning themselves at a distance from the exchanger of less than 5 m. This is not possible when there are a lot of projections, or when the weather conditions are not good, or when the operator is too far away (bad weather, in particular).